Welcome Welcome to Rocky Mountain Institute. RMI is a non-profit organization created to foster the efficient and restorative use of resources to make the world secure, just, prosperous, and life-sustaining. It has three areas of research and consulting (Energy & Resources Services, Integrated Design Practice, and Green Development Services), but the Institute also works on global security, economic renewal, and education.
RMI's main building reflects the Institute's mission. The building is both a home for our cofounder Amory Lovins and a workplace for some of the Institute's departments, but it also serves to demonstrate earth-friendly architectural concepts.
Constructed between June 1982 and January 1984, the building was something of an experiment. It was designed to make the most of the energy efficiency and alternative energy technologies available at that time. The building cost $500,000 to build, or $130 per square foot (in 1984 dollars), which was the approximate market rate for homes in and around Aspen. The energy and water efficiency technologies cost an additional $6,000 but saved the Institute $19 per day, resulting in a ten-month payback. Most importantly, many of the design strategies used in this building can be applied to a variety of building types, including commercial developments.
Two decades later, the building is still one of the most efficient around. Many of the basic architectural concepts in use here have become standard sustainable design principles, and many of the technologies used here are more readily available than they were in the early 1980s.
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